Election strategist Prashant Kishor appeared on the cover of the India Today magazine this week, which carried an exclusive interview of him. During the interview, Kishor revealed that when he was working with the Congress party, he was so close its affairs that he had almost joined the party.
Prashant Kishor said that he has been in talks with the Congress leadership for the past two years but, post the Bengal election, it was a much more structured, intensive engagement. He said that he had almost joined the party, but didn’t as he realized that coming together would be counterproductive for both sides due to some issues. However, he didn’t mention the issues that stopped him from joining the Congress party.
He revealed while replying to the claim that he is attacking the party because he was supposed to advise the party on strategy and it didn’t work out. He said that nobody can advise the Gandhis or the Congress leadership on their own. Kishor said that the party asked him and he told them what he thought was right.
परेशान भाई @PrashantKishor admits he was on verge of joining the Italian party pic.twitter.com/rZN6RVCYDC
— iMac_too (@iMac_too) December 11, 2021
Kishor also elaborated on his recent tweet where he had said ‘Congress leadership is not the divine right of an individual’, and explained that the decline of the Congress party is not recent, it is going on for the last three decades. Explaining this, he said that the Congress party has not won a general election after the landslide victory in 1984. Although the party ruled for 15 years after that, they were minority and coalition governments, and the Congress party didn’t have the majority in Lok Sabha.
The IDEA and SPACE that #Congress represents is vital for a strong opposition. But Congress’ leadership is not the DIVINE RIGHT of an individual especially, when the party has lost more than 90% elections in last 10 years.
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) December 2, 2021
Let opposition leadership be decided Democratically.
Explaining further on the decline of the party, he also informed at its peak, the Congress party was number 1 or a close 2 in around 3500 assembly constituencies out of total 4121, and that number is down to 1500-1600 now.
Therefore, the decline in Congress is not a temporary phenomenon. It is not linked to any individual or episode; it is far deeper. He said that the issue is structural and any Congress revival plan must take these factors into account, or they won’t get results.
Prashant Kishor also explained when he was talking about the divine right of an individual, he was not talking about any individual. He said, “My point is simple: as the leader of a political party, if you take credit when it wins, the world over, a democratic party’s policy is that you step aside when you lose and let somebody else take over the leadership.”
He said that not just political parties, but even in any corporate, any entity, or any cricket team, the leadership changes after failures. “If the leader is constantly failing, isn’t it logical to step away and let somebody else do the job?” he asked.
When reminded that Rahul Gandhi had resigned, he said he was not talking about Rahul Gandhi, but the entire Congress leadership under whom the party has lost 90% of the elections it has contested in the last 10 years.
When asked about Mamata Banerjee saying that UPA is dead, Kishor replied that UPA was formed in 2004 to form and run the central government. It was not a political coalition when it is not power. Moreover, the component of the UPA has changed as many parties have left it and some new parties have joined. Therefore, there is a need to relook at the UPA and its formation.
He also denied that he is advising Mamata Banerjee now, and said that he stopped working with the party after the elections as he had announced earlier. He said that 100% command and control of TMC is with Mamata Banerjee.
Prashant Kishor also said that TMC’s so-called expansion into other states is over-hyped, because the states where it is planning to contest elections amount to just four or five Lok Sabha seats. He also added that there is nothing wrong in another opposition party contesting directly against BJP, as Congress strike rate against BJP is very low, only 4%. Congress won most seats when it was direct contests against other parties, not BJP.
